Mystere

by Carolina Mac

  Vivian smiled, “What kind of sandwich would you like, Ranger Blackmore? Catherine likes a toasted BLT.”

  “Bingo, that’s what I want, a toasted BLT with extra mayo.”

  “You two are amusing,” said Cat. “I’m eating enough. I’m still kicking.”

  Blaine sat down in the upholstered chair that matched the sofa and stretched his legs out in front of him. He let out a sigh. “I’ve got a case I’m getting nowhere on, and two of my guys were stabbed by suspects. I’m so fuckin stuck, and I’m pissed off to boot.”

  “Farrell didn’t get hurt, did he?”

  Blaine didn’t answer right away. “Asswipe threw a boot knife and caught him right about here.” He pointed to the joint above his armpit. He can’t move his fuckin arm without ripping the stitches out, and he’s like a bear when he’s not working. I sent him to the ranch until tomorrow night.”

  “Aw, I hate to hear that. He’s such a sweetheart.”

  Blaine smiled. “Not really, but in some ways, I guess. He’s a pretty tough customer.”

  “Well, I’m stuck too. I have to read over everything Stokes is doing in my absence and I feel like kicking him in the balls. Honestly, the man appears competent on the surface, but underneath he seems to be a bonehead.”

  Blaine chuckled. “He can’t be that bad. He’s the Lieutenant Governor after all.”

  “Uh huh,” said Cat.

  Vivian came in with the tray and set it on the coffee table. She set Cat’s sandwich plate on her lap, so she could reach it along with a napkin and left the room.

  Blaine picked up his sandwich and took a bite.

  “What else is going on?” asked Cat. “I’m out of the loop.”

  “Annie is playing in a high stakes game at Mark Selecky’s house. Do you know him?”

  “Sure, he’s the TV dude who thinks he’s Mr. Cool,” said Cat. “I’ve met him. All tanned and perfect—one of those guys.”

  “Farrell picked up a rumor from one of his informants that Selecky’s weekend game was going to be robbed. I went to see him with a heads up, and he assured me he could take care of anything that came his way.” Blaine shrugged.

  Cat giggled. “So… you sent your mother?”

  “Nobody better.”

  “Does she have backup?”

  “Trav.”

  Cat nodded. “As long as she’s not alone.”

  Quantrall Ranch. Giddings.

  JESSE sat next to Charity at the dining room table. She’d already been fed her dinner, but she loved sitting at the big table next to Tyler. He was feeding her little bits of lemon pie on a spoon when Jesse’s phone rang.

  He checked the screen, then stepped into the foyer to answer. “Hey, Ace, are we playing poker tonight?”

  “You know it, cowboy. Do you have the address?”

  “Nope, hang on and I’ll write it down.” He grabbed a pen from the hall table and made a note of Selecky’s address. “What time are y’all going?”

  “Nine,” said Annie. “Travis is picking me up at ten to nine. I’m tired after last night and so is he, but we don’t want to miss anything.”

  “If there is a robbery attempt, I think it will be late,” said Jesse, “like maybe four in the morning. That’s a good time.”

  “See you there, sugar pop.”

  Jesse smiled and returned to his seat in the dining room.

  “What are you looking so happy about?” asked Tyler.

  “I’m playing in a high stakes game tonight, sort of working and sort of for fun.”

  Tyler raised a dark eyebrow. “Maybe I want to play too. Where’s the game at?”

  “West Lake,” said Jesse. “Big time private game run by a guy named Mark Selecky. Want to come? I’ll call and get you a seat.”

  “Yep, I do. Been a long time since I’ve had any fun.”

  TRAVIS picked Annie up at Coulter-Ross at ten to nine. “Think anything will happen tonight?”

  “Maybe nothing. Could be we’re more of a preventative measure than anything else.”

  “You could be right,” said Travis. “If they’ve got somebody playing on the inside and feeding them information, we could have pinged their radar and made them back off.”

  “Did you take a good look behind the woman in the cash cage and see what kind of safe they had in there,” asked Annie.

  “Just a glance, but the safe was large and a brand name. Not something you could tote on your back.”

  “I wonder how the would-be thieves are planning on pulling this off?”

  “Sometimes tips coming from snitches are only shit they made up to score a hundred bucks for drugs.”

  “Oh, yeah?” Annie smiled. “No honor among snitches?”

  “None,” said Travis, “and did I mention you look gorgeous in that lilac color?”

  “No, but thanks. Dressed up two nights in a row, my life is looking up.”

  “I’m always on call to take you out, Annie-girl,” said Travis, “be my pleasure.”

  “Thank you, sweetheart.” Annie reached over and squeezed his arm.

  West Lake Hills. Austin.

  JESSE announced himself at the gate and was admitted to the Selecky estate without a problem. He steered the Range Rover along the curved brick drive and stopped in front of the garage.

  “Pretty fancy,” said Tyler. “Maybe I ain’t dressed right.”

  “Fuck them,” said Jesse, “we could buy and sell these assholes.”

  Ty laughed. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. We could buy and sell about anybody in Texas except Annie.”

  “It don’t matter what we’re wearing. If they don’t like it, they can shove it up their arny holes.”

  “Wonder if we’ll know anybody?”

  “We’ll know Ace, and Travis.”

  “Good enough,” said Ty. He rang the bell.

  The door opened, and a blonde lady with a clip board greeted them. “Good evening, gentlemen. Could I have your names, please?”

  “Jesse and Tyler Quantrall.”

  She searched her list and smiled. “Follow me and I’ll show y’all to the poker room.”

  Mark Selecky met them at the door to the poker room and introduced himself. “You must be the Quantrall brothers. You look a lot alike.”

  “Uh huh,” said Jesse. “People do say that. I’m Jesse, and this is Tyler.”

  “Both avid poker players?”

  “You bet,” said Tyler.

  “And you were told about my game by Mrs. Powell?”

  “Annie is my ex-wife,” drawled Jesse, “and I’ve still got a tracker on her.”

  Selecky smiled. “I see why you would want to know her whereabouts, sir. Mrs. Powell, or Quantrall is an extremely attractive woman.”

  Tyler raised an eyebrow but didn’t comment.

  “I didn’t know if you wanted to play at the same table, but I took a chance and presumed you didn’t,” said Selecky. “I’ve seated Tyler at table two, and you, Jesse, at table one.”

  “Thank you, sir.”

  “I’ll make you familiar with the bar, the buffet and the cash cage, then I’ll leave you on your own.”

  ANNIE AND TRAVIS came in a few minutes later and joined Tyler and Jesse at the bar. “You guys ready to win some decent cash?” Annie winked at Tyler.

  “I am so ready,” said Tyler, “I might play all night long.”

  “You’ll have to take a cab home then,” said Jesse, “because I’ll be home sleeping.”

  Tyler shrugged. “I can do that.”

  Selecky called them to their respective tables, introduced the other players and the game was under way.

  Annie and Tyler were at the same table, Annie in seat seven and Tyler in seat four. She greeted all the players she’d met the night before and introduced them to Tyler.

  Tyler Quantrall was an introvert and hard to read, especially at the poker table. He usually did well in a game because his expression seldom changed, and nobody could guess what his hole cards were.

 
Annie knew him well and had loved him since the first day they met. She’d been dating Jesse at the time and Jesse had brought her home to meet his family. They’d tried it as a couple once or twice over the years and circumstances always seemed to come between them, just like her and Jesse. The Quantrall boys were easy to love and hard to hold on to.

  “Raise,” said Tyler.

  Annie checked her cards and she had a nine and a three. She folded when it was her turn and watched Tyler play his hand.

  Three other players called him. The flop came Ace, seven, jack. The first player to act checked to Tyler. Tyler bet. The guy sitting next to Tyler raised him and Tyler’s expression never changed. The other two players in the hand folded after the raise and Tyler called.

  The turn card was another jack. Tyler checked, and Annie put Tyler on ace, jack. The man next to him shoved, and the dealer began counting the chips. Tyler sat for a moment, taking his time, then said, “I call.”

  “Flip ‘em up,” said the dealer and Travis flipped up ace, jack of hearts.

  The guy next to him sucked in a breath when he saw Tyler’s cards and turned over jack, king. He was drawing dead. The river card didn’t matter, but the dealer turned it up anyway—four of clubs. The dealer pushed the pot to Tyler and it was a substantial pile of chips.

  JESSE’S table was mostly men, but there were a couple of women—one at each end. One was the wife of a player at another table, and the other woman, Mark Selecky had introduced as Kaitlin Carmody. She was the one Jesse was most interested in. He listened to her talk to the other players and she sounded more like a con than the CEO of her own business.

  I’ll see how she plays. Then I’ll ask her a couple of questions.

  TRAVIS strolled over to the bar and requested his second beer from the bartender. He stood and chatted to him for a while for something to do and found out the kid was going to U of Texas and worked as a bartender at night to help with his school expenses.

  “Are you waiting for a seat?” he asked.

  “I might play later,” said Travis. “Mostly I watch.”

  The kid, good looking in a young, preppy kind of way, asked, “What are you watching for? That’s what I’m wondering.”

  Travis smiled. “Anything out of the ordinary. That’s what I watch for.”

  “I thought so. You’re a cop, aren’t you?”

  “Could be. Not official here. I’m on a different mission.”

  “Uh huh. I saw you last night too. You’re guarding Mrs. Powell. I heard she usually has a bodyguard when she’s out in public.”

  “I guess being a bartender you hear a lot of stuff.”

  “Sure, I do. The more people drink, the more they shoot their mouths off. I hear all kinds of private stuff.” He leaned across the bar and whispered, “Some of it not exactly legal.”

  Travis grinned. “What do you do with all that good stuff you hear?”

  “Nothing. Wish I could sell it.”

  “You can.”

  “You’re bullshitting me, right?”

  “Nope.” Travis took a card out of his wallet and wrote Farrell’s name on the back. “Same number as on the front, ask for Deputy Donovan. He pays good money for information.”

  “Donovan like the guy who’s always in the paper? Dead-eye Donovan?”

  Travis winked. “You got it.”

  “Fuck, this is a score.”

  Travis smiled, picked up his beer and went outside for a smoke. One of the uniformed security guards was making his rounds and passed close to where Travis was standing in the shadows. “Hey,” said Travis. “How’s it going?”

  “Didn’t see you standing there.” The guard stopped and shone a light in Travis’s face. “It’s going okay. I work here on the weekends and it’s an easy gig. Nothing ever happens.”

  “Are you armed?” asked Travis. “I’m asking for a reason. I’m a cop.”

  “Nope. We have pepper spray and a taser on our utility belts in case we need it, but Mr. Selecky says we don’t need to carry guns.”

  “Is there a Mrs. Selecky?”

  “Used to be, but she was gone before I started working here. Divorce in the works. That’s the rumor and according to my buddy, it’s been dragging on for a long time.”

  “What’s the wife’s name?” asked Travis.

  “Tanya. Tanya Selecky.”

  “Good information. Thanks. Y’all have a nice night.”

  JESSE played a couple of hands and wasn’t hitting anything. The Carmody woman was losing most of the hands she entered and still she never stopped talking.

  “Tell me about your oil company, Miss Carmody,” said Jesse. “Are you pumping crude from your own land?”

  “Uh huh,” she said and didn’t look Jesse in the eye.

  “Where’s your spread?”

  “West Texas.”

  Jesse nodded. “You’re a long way from home, then aren’t you?”

  “No, I live in Austin.” She stood up a little flustered, her face pink. “Excuse me, I need the ladies’ room.”

  I don’t think she knows anything about oil. Blacky should check her out.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Sunday, April 5th.

  Coulter-Ross Ranch. La Grange.

  FARRELL slept better in his own bed at the ranch than he’d slept in months. He’d been thinking about moving back home with Annie, and the only thing holding him back was Blacky. He liked living with his foster brother and they had a lot of fun together, but Annie was in a sad place and she was missing both of them so much. Rock and a hard place. He couldn’t decide.

  He ambled down the hall to the kitchen to see if coffee was ready and Declan was sitting at the island reading a medical journal. “I thought I was the first one up,” said Farrell.

  “I’m an early riser,” said Declan. “Coffee’s ready. Sit down, I’ll get you a cup.”

  “I can get it,” said Farrell and took a mug out of the cupboard. “I slept like the dead with those meds you gave me.”

  Declan smiled. “You need rest to heal, and you aren’t getting enough. You’re too close to your work. Stay for a couple more days.”

  “Umm… don’t know if I can. We’re interviewing tomorrow for more staff, and I like to give the candidates the once over. Blacky has hired the odd one who turned out to be a complete asshole.” Farrell glanced down the hallway towards the bedroom wing. “Mom get in late from the poker game?”

  “I didn’t hear her come in, but she’s never noisy.”

  “I don’t like the place she’s in,” said Farrell. “All quiet and so sad underneath about Jesse, and a lot of its about the baby. She misses Charity so much.”

  “Wish I could do something about that situation, but there’s nothing anyone can do. Jesse made the call and he’s sticking to his decision.”

  “Do you think he’s serious about that doctor he’s seeing?”

  Declan shook his curly head. “No idea about that one, Farrell. I haven’t heard much about it.”

  “He hasn’t mentioned her lately. Maybe its cooling off.”

  “It sounds like you’d like Annie and Jesse to reconcile.”

  Farrell shrugged, then winced when the motion hurt his shoulder. “Only if it’s what she wants. I don’t think she can weather another failed go-round with Jesse.”

  “Exactly what I think. Enough is enough. She keeps repeating and getting the same result. Einstein called that behavior insanity.”

  ANNIE LAY in bed, tired from the lateness of the hour when she got home from the poker game the night before, but happy it had gone well. No robbery and nothing even hinting that there would be one. Maybe the robbers had changed their minds. After seeing the complexity of Selecky’s setup, she was thinking one robber alone couldn’t pull it off, but it could be one single robber with big balls and a tiny brain.

  She should get up and check on Farrell but going back to sleep for another half hour was an appealing thought too. Her eyelids fluttered shut, then her cell on the nightstand s
ignaled a text and she was wide awake. A smile crossed her lips when she saw the screen. Tyler.

  “Had fun last night. Want to go again tonight? Jesse isn’t going. Having Jan for Sunday dinner.”

  “Sure, sugar. Pick me up.”

  “I’ll text you when I’m leaving the ranch.”

  “Can’t wait.”

  Tyler was so sweet, and she loved him so much, but it hadn’t worked out for them in the past and he was more than a little gun shy. That didn’t mean they couldn’t have fun together, did it?”

  Blackmore Agency. Austin.

  BLAINE sat alone in his massive kitchen drinking coffee and missing Farrell. Carm was busy making breakfast, but without Farrell the house didn’t feel the same. Misty was in the wind, and Farrell was hurt and staying at the ranch—his whole world was fucked and empty.

  His cell rang, and he felt like tossing it in the trash. Instead, he read the screen out loud. “Mrs. Le Jeune, Misty’s mom.”

  “Good morning, did you hear from Misty?”

  “No, but I had a dream about her and she was sleeping.”

  “Sleeping where?”

  She’s not sleeping at the Fairfax Inn.

  “Doesn’t make any sense,” said Mrs. Le Jeune, “but she was sleeping in a dark place.”

  “Like a dark bedroom?” Blaine offered.

  “It seemed smaller than a bedroom and I couldn’t see if she was on a bed or on the floor. It was too dark.”

  “A small dark room.” Blaine repeated the information.

  “Have you heard from New Orleans’ police?”

  “Not today, but I was about to call them. Can I do that and call you back?”

  “Yes, please, Blaine, and I thank you for looking for her. Sometimes her head is so full of messages, she can’t think clearly, and she forgets about the basics—like letting people know she’s alive and well.”

  “It’s hard on the people who love her,” said Blaine. “I’ll get back to you soon.”

  He pressed end and scrolled to NOPD. “Is Detective Percival working today?”

  “Umm… let me check. No, sir, she’s not in today, but I’ll get someone else to help you.” The line went dead for a couple of minutes, then a male voice spoke.